U.S. transferred a record $80.9B worth of military equipment 2023

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/foreign-military-sales-new-record-2023/

by belter • 2 years ago

29 31 2 years ago

airandspaceforces.com

krunck• 2 years ago

The world is feeling so free.

zinodaur• 2 years ago

I used to roll my eyes at US military spending as well, but the last few years have honestly made me grateful for it

laidoffamazon4• 2 years ago

Absolutely. The world is better off because Putin is being resisted.

We (as the US) had a golden opportunity to reinvest our peace dividend after 1991 but we squandered it in a useless war for nearly 20 years after 9/11. But we have no choice but to reinvest in defense now.

the-chitmonger• 2 years ago

Yep - plus it also helps that we have the Atlantic and a lot of Europe between us and a potential invasion.

_trampeltier• 2 years ago

With all this hardware, you can even really touch the freedom.

foofie2• 2 years ago

The world is feeling so free.

A significant portion of these transfers went to Ukraine. Thanks to them, is managing to resist Russia's 3-day invasion for the second years and counting.

Given Putin's repeated threat of nuclear Armageddon and annexing west Europe up to Lisbon, undoubtedly the world feels free thanks to its ability to oppose these imperialist ambitions of a few tin-pot dictators.

mistrial9• 2 years ago

when war is a profit generator, there will always be those who invest in war, lead war, advocate war, justify war

in the late 1800s there were some very bitter and clever political cartoons in newspapers showing the distance between investors and the actual conditions that their wars create

nobody wins in war

kiba2• 2 years ago

You can blame Mr. Putin for starting a full scale war in Europe the like it has never seen since the second world war.

Profit or not, the price of security is assuredly all the other things we could be doing or focusing our attention on such as medical research, cleaner energy, etc.

But the fact that nobody wins in war, not even the Russian even in victory will acts a deterrence to further conflicts, as it is already a strategic defeat for Russia.

whimsicalism6• 2 years ago

like it has never seen since the second world war.

The dissolution of Yugoslavia imo would count as this

bmer2• 2 years ago

If the US didn't do this, the world would be worse off, no?

(Not sure: wondering.)

whimsicalism6• 2 years ago

Nobody has the counterfactual answer to this.

Proponents will speak to deterrence and preservation of ‘liberty’/non-despotism, opponents will speak to the very real death toll inflicted by these weapons.

bmer2• 2 years ago

Well, what do the prediction markets think?

Markets are unable to lie (as they are deeply/intrinsically connected to reality).

jollyllama2• 2 years ago

Does that count assets left in Afghanistan in 2021?

laidoffamazon4• 2 years ago

Well, since the article title says 2023 I'm wondering why you're bringing up the (excellent) withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021, successfully ending a forever war.

jollyllama2• 2 years ago

since the article title says 2023 I'm wondering why you're bringing up the (excellent) withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021

It says record, so my question is: Which was bigger, the value of the assets left in Afghanistan in 2021, or the 81 billion transferred in 2023?

foofie2• 2 years ago

Money quotes:

From 2021-23, FMS sales averaged $55.9 billion per year, a 21.9 percent increase over the 2020-22 average of $45.8 billion per year.

Followed by:

Poland was the single largest FMS customer in fiscal 2023, with over $30 billion in transfers.

I wonder if the article boils down to "Poland bought $30B of military equipment all of a sudden".

cheriot• 2 years ago

This is how a 20 year military build up creates influence and diminishes our enemies without America fighting a war.

U.S. transferred a record $80.9B worth of military equipment 2023

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